Rensselaer holds off Greenwich to reach Class D Super Bowl

SCHUYLERVILLE >> In a matchup of two of the most explosive players on two of the highest scoring football teams in Class D, the defense that made the final tackle won the game.

Greenwich had 15 seconds to drive 48 yards for a touchdown and a two-point conversion that would tie the game. However, thanks to an incomplete pass, a Greenwich penalty and a tackle on John Barnes — one of the toughest runners in the section — that didn’t happen.

The Rams’ last-minute defensive effort put an end to a thrilling 42-34 win over the Witches in a Section II Class D semifinal on the turf at Schuylerville High School Saturday night.

“It was crazy,” Rensselaer coach Joel Preston said of the final minute. “We’re trying to protect our guys, they’re just trying to stay alive. Everybody was respectful after the game. It was a great contest.”

Rensselaer, the defending Class D champ, advances to play Cambridge in the Class D Super Bowl at 1 p.m. next Saturday at Schuylerville.

The Rams never trailed in the game after two first-quarter touchdown passes by quarterback Steven Harwood. The senior was effective throwing and running the ball but left the game injured late in the fourth quarter with his team up 28-26 and the ball at the Greenwich 5-yard line. After two timeouts and a second down play that was stopped by the Witches defense, he returned to the game for a critical third-and-goal play. Harwood put the pain from the injury aside for a gutsy 4-yard touchdown run with 3:07 left in the fourth. Brandon Butler’s extra point put Rensselaer up 35-26 to make it a two-score game.

“I asked him if he could go, he said, ‘Coach I got this, I can score on this play,’” Preston said of Harwood’s run. “He’s a senior and he didn’t want his season to end here. He wanted another shot at Cambridge. It looks like he’s going to get it.”

Greenwich got the ball back needing a quick score but after three short gains running the ball, Rensselaer’s Brendon Tomlinson sacked Lukas Whitehouse to give the ball back to the Rams.

Jake Forgea took advantage of the possession with a 20-yard touchdown run that made it 42-26 after another Butler kick.

While many fans thought the game was over with Greenwich down 16 with 1:05 to play, no one bothered to tell the Witches players.

Whitehouse engineered a lighting-fast drive in which he hit Jeremy Messina for a 31-yard pass then threw a 10-yard touchdown to Barnes. Whitehouse’s 2-point conversion throw to Glenn Taylor was good to make it 42-34 with 17 seconds left.

Greenwich needed just two seconds to pick up an onsides kick, but the Rensselaer defense held when it mattered most to close out the win.

The two state-ranked squads took turns dominating periods of the game in cold, windy and sometimes wet conditions.

Harwood threw touchdown passes of 19 and 25 yards to Tyler Oliver on the Rams’ first two possessions of the first quarter and ran in the two-point conversions to give his squad a 16-0 advantage.

But Barnes finished a Greenwich drive with a 1-yard touchdown run to start the second quarter and, after Brandon Wilbur recovered a Rensselaer fumble, Barnes took the next snap 38 yards to make it 16-14.

The Rams answered with a five-play drive that traveled 58 yards and ended with a 2-yard Harwood run that made it 22-14 after the ensuing conversion pass failed.

Barnes pulled Greenwich to within two points with a 5-yard touchdown run with 1:14 left before halftime, but his two-point attempt to tie the game was stopped short.

With 1:14 left in the second quarter Rensselaer needed a big play if it wanted to add to its 22-20 lead before the half. Forgea provided that play with a 61-yard kickoff return to the 4-yard line. Harwood only needed one snap to find the endzone and give the Rams a 28-20 lead.

Both teams made big defensive stops to start the second half and, after Harwood was intercepted by Taylor, Greenwich mounted a 94-yard touchdown drive. A key Whitehouse throw to Barnes on third down kept the drive alive and Whitehouse finished it with a 49-yard touchdown pass to Mike Brandow. Barnes’ two-point conversion attempt could have tied the game if it wasn’t stuff before he reached the goal line to keep the score at 28-26.

“Lukas stepped up,” Greenwich coach Brandon Linnett said of the sophomore quarterback who passed for 152 yards and two touchdowns.

The Witches got the ball back two times with a chance to take the lead in the fourth quarter but were stalled each time by lost fumbles.

“Our defense played outstanding in the second half, right to the final three or four minutes,” Linnett said. “It wasn’t a lack of effort. We put the ball on the ground, they didn’t.”

Harwood’s return from injury ensured Rensselaer turned the second fumble into points and put his team on the path to victory.

Barnes finished the game with 25 carries for 182 yards and three touchdowns, three catches for 36 yards and a touchdown, an interception, and one fumble. The monster statistics the senior tailback put up every single game are something the Witches will miss next year along with the rest of the seniors.

“I haven’t coached anybody like him, I don’t know if I’ll coach anybody like him again,” Linnett said of Barnes. “All the kids played hard. They haven’t quit one minute of a practice or a game. I would expect that from them.”